Praising Turner
Editor, The Commercial:
Rev. Jesse Turner endorsed Go Forward Pine Bluff.
Rev. Turner is a recent recipient of the MLK Lifetime Achievement Award for promoting the principles of Dr. King. He is a longtime member of our local NAACP Branch. He and Ivan Whitfield differ in their option of GFPB. Since Rev. Turner is the embodiment of the values of MLK, I would certainly favor his opinion over Whitfield’s.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
In a letter to the editor — on June 22, 2023, Rev. Turner wrote:
“Having a minuscule amount of money/tax dollars, Pine Bluff becomes a deteriorating city. Go Forward Pine Bluff made many mistakes, but I believe these errors didn’t deserve the death penalty.
“The Pine Bluff branch NAACP, some of our elected officials, and the Pine Bluff Commercial thought that the GFPB failures deserve killing and not repairing. It was decided to cut off our noses to spite our faces.
“The work that lies before this community is urgent. Nonetheless, the death of GFPB could be the final nail in Pine Bluff’s coffin. Urgent! (If GFPB is defeated) Who will lead this effort as the community begins a long road back to where we were before the GFPB mistakes?”
The alleged new plan is an invention of Whitfield and Alexander. It should have started long ago as we challenged them to do. All we have so far is a promise of no taxes! Money is needed. How are they going to get it without a sales tax and the sources of private contributions that come to GFPB.
How will the new plan be implemented? How will tax dollars be allocated, and by whom? Will new tax dollars be used to complete previous projects?
Dr. J. William Nuckolls,
Pine Bluff